When Naruto was young, he could push open his window and take in the entire Kage Rock.
When Hyuga Qinglan pushed open his window, however, all he saw was the green-tiled roofs and white walls of the Main Branch estate.
As for Kage Rock, he could barely make out one corner of it.
Hyuga Qinglan sat by the window, tied his waist-length hair into a neat ponytail, and let the morning dew patter against his face.
"..."
Once he had properly woken up, he put on the plain clothes distributed to the clan and walked out of the secluded courtyard without a change in expression.
He had lived through two lifetimes.
Or, more accurately, three.
Hyuga Qinglan knew that for now, the only way to escape his predicament was to endure.
He couldn't give up just because he'd been born into the Branch Family in this life.
In his previous life, he had witnessed and taken part in the earth-shaking battle between the Otsutsuki Main Family and the Branch Family on the moon.
In the end, he had fallen to the Branch Family's masterstroke.
The earth-shaking battles in this life, meanwhile, came one after another.
The Battle of Kannabi Bridge had already ended, and the Battle of Kikyo Pass was next.
While the sky was still misty, Hyuga Qinglan bit into a buckwheat bun, put on his Forehead Protector, and headed toward the clan gates.
His circumstances in this life weren't exactly good, either.
Both his parents were dead. He'd been branded with the Caged Bird Cursed Seal when he was little, and after becoming a shinobi, he had to drag himself out of bed early every day to stand guard for the Main Branch.
Compared to his previous life, this one was practically slavery.
Fortunately, he hadn't lost the knowledge he'd accumulated on the moon in his last life. The fundamentals of the Eight Trigrams Palm were practically etched into his bones.
With that experience, even as a member of the Branch Family, he'd been able to master the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms by the age of eight.
Still, the Cursed Seal on his forehead remained an obstacle in his path.
That didn't mean there was no way around it.
Hyuga Qinglan raised his eyes toward the moon, its shadow gradually swallowed by the light of dawn.
All he had to do was find the Otsutsuki remains from his previous life...
Then he'd be like a fish in the sea, a bird soaring through the sky, no longer bound by the cage.
Hyuga Qinglan finished the buckwheat bun in a few bites. As he crossed the training ground, he occasionally ran into other Branch Family shinobi who had gotten up early for duty, just like him.
Every face he saw wore the same calm, numb expression.
He had only just arrived at the clan gates when he spotted the Branch Family guards who had gotten up early for duty, like him, walking over from nearby.
"Qinglan, you're early today."
"Yeah. I thought you'd been called to train with the Main Branch young lady again."
"I'm so jealous."
When the Branch Family members saw Hyuga Qinglan take his place at the gates, even their usually stern expressions softened.
"Gakuto, Itsudan, Hayato."
Hyuga Qinglan nodded to each of them in greeting, then quickly turned away and went to the registration desk to fill in his details.
It wasn't that he was really close to them.
Beyond their slight blood ties, they had little more in common than ordinary villagers of Konoha.
Their polite greetings were simply because the Hyuga Clan had strict rules.
Whether Main Branch or Branch Family, everyone's words and actions were governed by regulations.
But that wasn't even the most important thing.
The most important things were tardiness, breaches of decorum, and offending the Main Branch.
The punishment could range from losing training resources to being subjected to the Caged Bird.
A minor lateness or breach of decorum wouldn't earn anyone the Caged Bird.
The real concern was the training resources.
Ever since he'd opened his eyes again and adjusted to his identity as a member of the Branch Family, Hyuga Qinglan had understood his situation.
Bound by the Caged Bird, he would need astronomical amounts of time and money to train.
Even though he belonged to the Hyuga, who prided themselves on being Konoha's greatest clan, the resources allotted to him as a member of the Branch Family were a drop in the bucket compared to those of the Main Branch.
The two Kekkei Genkai passed down from Otsutsuki Kaguya—
the Byakugan and the Sharingan—were both like that.
To grow stronger, he had to constantly temper his eye powers.
Improving those powers required all kinds of training, and the time and money it took were no small amount.
The tragic part was that, as Hamura's descendants, the Hyuga Clan didn't possess a wealth of training methods like Hagoromo's descendants—the Senju and Uchiha.
As a member of the Hyuga Branch Family, the only way to escape his predicament was to figure things out for himself, one step at a time.
"Hyuga Qinglan."
A clear, melodious voice came from behind him. Hyuga Qinglan turned around to look at the newcomer.
It was the young lady of the Hyuga Main Branch.
Hyuga Yumi.
She was also the person he was assigned to guard.
"Lady Yumi." Hyuga Qinglan bowed slightly in greeting.
"No need for formalities."
Hyuga Yumi wore combat attire. The baby fat hadn't yet faded from her cheeks, but her eyes gleamed with a sharpness beyond her years.
"I'm practicing the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms today. Come train with me."
She turned and gestured for another member of the Branch Family to take Hyuga Qinglan's place, then motioned for him to follow her.
Hyuga Qinglan sighed silently, but in the end, he followed.
Honestly, he really didn't want to play pretend training with this young lady.
Despite being a member of the Main Branch, she couldn't even manage the Sixty-Four Palms of the Eight Trigrams Palm. Even thirty-two palms were a struggle.
But the Caged Bird left him no choice but to submit for the time being.
Only now did Hyuga Qinglan truly understand how Neji must have felt when he trained Hinata.
Still, being a training partner wasn't entirely without benefits.
There were subtle differences between the Eight Trigrams Palm taught by the Main Branch and the one taught to the Branch Family.
Perhaps because he'd received training from the Otsutsuki Clan on the moon in his previous life, Hyuga Qinglan could always spot the intricacies at a glance.
"Thud! Thud!"
The sound of blows rang out across the training ground as Hyuga Yumi focused on practicing the Eight Trigrams Palm.
Hyuga Qinglan remained calm, occasionally offering pointers on where to put force and when to pull back.
"Ah!"
Hyuga Yumi stumbled after being struck. She let out a small cry, and just before she fell, Hyuga Qinglan caught her.
"Lady Yumi, let's stop here for today."
"Your Eight Trigrams Palm has improved a little since yesterday."
After helping Hyuga Yumi back to her feet, Hyuga Qinglan took a small step back and said without batting an eye.
"Really?" Hyuga Yumi sucked in a breath, rubbed her struck abdomen, and suppressed the dull ache, basking in Hyuga Qinglan's praise.
"Of course. Your talent is beyond the ordinary, Lady Yumi."
"What do you mean?"
"When you practice the Eight Trigrams Palm, it comes as naturally to you as breathing. You discard the flaws and keep the essence. You've even picked up all the little tricks I use."
Hyuga Qinglan raised his head and looked at Hyuga Yumi with a serious expression.
"Of all the people I've met, you're the one who truly deserves to be called a genius."
She could completely forget the Eight Trigrams Palm taught by the Main Branch, yet somehow incorporate the Branch Family's techniques into her own. She was the only "genius" of her kind he'd ever met...
"I see. I had no idea you thought so highly of me."
Hyuga Yumi nodded in satisfaction, then reached out and patted Hyuga Qinglan on the head. "That's my guard for you."
Hyuga Qinglan didn't answer. He simply lowered his eyes in silence.
"If my skills really are as amazing as you say..."
She paused. The satisfaction in her eyes gradually faded, giving way to a cool, stern look.
"Then come with me to the Mist Battlefield and help me wash away the shame of the Hyuga Clan."
"?!"
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